Saturday, January 17, 2015

Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, you will be one year old. A whole year. My baby boy went to sleep tonight, and a one-year-old will be yelling for me in the morning. I'm tempted to say things like, "You'd think I'd be used to this after going through it with your sister!" But that's silly, both because there's no way to get used to it, and because this post is all about you.

Here's the thing, Simon: You are growing up to be an incredible little boy. I want to tell you about all of the ways, but I couldn't possibly cover all of them, so you'll have to settle for a few.

We were talking today about how little and red and scrunchy you were when you were born. Now you are neither little, nor red, nor scrunchy. You are tall and fair and handsome with beautiful blue eyes.

You walk now! Walk! Until very recently it's been more like 'careening' than 'walking'. You would stand up, get up a head of steam in a direction, and keep plowing ahead faster and faster until you ran into something. Not a lot of finesse, but so much determination! The past few days you've walked with a lot more style. Crazy how that happens all of a sudden.

You are asleep right now. In your crib. Where you have slept through the night almost every night since we started trying to 'sleep train' you. 'Sleep training' is a weird term. See, you used to get up like 400 times a night and you would need to breastfeed every one of those times and eventually your exhausted mother would bring you into bed and you would sleep with a boob in your mouth until morning. That's going to be a really awkward thing for you to read when you're 14, but it's the truth. You have to live with the consequences of your actions, Simon. But eventually we realized that couldn't last forever and said, "Okay, tonight he's going to sleep in the crib and he's going to stay there all night even if he yells and the neighbors hate us." And you did yell. A lot. You're kind of a yeller. But the next night you yelled less, and the next night you just slept. Since then, that's pretty much how you've been. I guess you're a fast learner. There is a dark side to this, however. You wake up practically every morning at 5:30am. Well, not every morning. Some mornings you wake up at 4:00am. And once you are awake, you do not go back to sleep. I will admit that I don't always find this trait particularly charming, but it is sometimes nice to get to spend a little time playing with you while the world is still dark and asleep. Just maybe not every morning?

You love to figure things out. It's amazing to watch you get focused on a task. We have a Leap Pad, which is kind of like a tablet computer for toddlers. You are definitely not old enough to use it. But that hasn't stopped you one bit. One day you sat in the middle of the living room floor and just turned it on and off over and over again. Thirty times you turned that thing on and off until you were satisfied with how that particular function worked. Soon after that you were choosing a profile (your mom's) and picking games and playing them. There's one where you have a virtual sheep and you get to feed it apples and carrots and things. Every time you tap the screen it drops one and the sheep walks over and eats it. You think this is HILARIOUS every time. You laugh and laugh and laugh and it's so much fun to watch.

You love trucks and cars and construction equipment, which is funny to me because it's not really something I ever remember being into at all. One of your first words was 'caaaah', which is how people from Boston say 'car'. You like to drive cars (and other things that you pretend are cars) around on the floor. You used to love the book "Good Night, Good Night Construction Site" and I guess you still do, but your favorite book right now is called "Little Blue Truck," which is about exactly what it sounds like. Your mom makes the best 'beep beep' sounds when she reads it to you. I'm not as good at it. But you love that book. You also love a book called "I Am A Bunny," so it's not just trucks. Your favorite part is pointing to the bunny on every page, and you get very excited about it.

You challenge us constantly, because you are so headstrong, and I think you get very frustrated that there are things you just can't do yet. You'll get there, Simon. I so look forward to watching you grow up and figure all of these things out, but it also seems like you're growing up way too fast. I guess every parent says that, but I hope you'll forgive me for being a bit cliché.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

We haven't written in this blog since June, but we do have an excuse. You both keep us busier than I could ever have imagined before parenthood! And it's wonderful, don't get me wrong. But still. So busy.

Maddie, I'm calling it. You are DAYTIME POTTY TRAINED. We are so proud of you! This really shows us all that potty training happens when toddlers are ready and not before, because we tried a little less than a year ago, and it just wasn't sticking. Then, last weekend, totally out of the blue, you announced that you had to use the bathroom. So we helped you out of your diaper, and you pushed your potty stool over to the toilet, climbed on up, and did your thing. Many, many times throughout the day. You've been doing it ever since! No accidents, just potty time. (Sorry. I'm sure this is mortifying. Twelve-year-old Maddie will read this and say, "God, Mom! Is nothing sacred?!" But I'm writing this because twenty-three-year-old Maddie may wonder what was going on with herself at two-and-a-half years old, and twenty-nine-year-old Maddie may be looking for potty training tips for her own tot, and my tip is not to worry about it. It'll happen.) Anyway, SO PROUD OF YOU. You are just a supremely awesome little girl.

What else have you been up to? Well, school. You're in the 2s room at the co-op, and you love it. Your favorite things are the play kitchen area, the sensory table, and the water table. There's a carton of play eggs in the kitchen area, and you introduce them to the other kids and the teachers as your ghosts. As in:

"Oh, are those your eggs, Maddie?"
"No. These are my ghosts."

That really stops a conversation in its tracks, but your dad and I think it's hilarious. We can't help it. You're weird in the best way.

One time, you drank the water in the water table. I said: "No, Maddie! Don't drink that water! Just pretend!" You answered: "I am just pretending. I'm just pretending it's tea."

You take ballet with Miss Chelsea, and you love it. You love the tutu, you love the songs, you love ballet.

You and Simon are taking another semester of Music Together, because even though I am always worried about over-scheduling you, and even though (frankly) I don't love putting on actual pants every morning, Simon is so into Music Together, and you seem to still really love it, too. The shaky eggs are both of your favorites.

Simon, you are WALKING. Walking! I have two walking children. I can't even believe it. You've grown so much over the last half year, I don't even know where to start. You say "mama," "dada," "car," "kitty," "rolllll ball," and "YAY!" You are cute as a button. I want to chew on your cheeks 100% of the time. You're going to be one year old on January 18th, and that makes me want to cry, but it also makes me really happy, because you're growing to be such a sweet, gentle, hilarious little boy. You make the best faces. You bite, and that's not my favorite thing in the world, but hopefully by the time you're able to read this, you will no longer be a biter. Your favorite book is Little Blue Truck.

You and Maddie had your very first haircuts together on Monday! Here are some sad/funny/adorable pictures.

This is going to be a pitifully short post, but I'll try to get back in the habit of frequent posting. Nay, I resolve to get back in the habit of frequent posting.